Rosie
Daryl's Jasper Stone
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Posts: 1,440
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Post by Rosie on May 30, 2017 13:23:56 GMT -5
I finally began watching The Wire. Possibly there are enough of us who appreciate this series for its writing, direction, acting, and stark gut wrenching character portrayals to warrant a discussion topic. Currently I am also finished with Season 4. I've been using Alan Sepinwall's The Wire episode blog (2014) as a guide. Additionally I could never be able to decipher Snoop's authentic "Balmer" accent w/o captions. 8-) I am watching on DVD with the original 4.3 aspect. Next, I will re-watch the remastered HD version. uproxx.com/sepinwall/the-wire-links-for-reviews-to-every-episode/I don't know yet which is my favorite Season nor do I yet know which characters will turn out to be my favorites. Omar is definitely up there for me as well as Bubbles. Seth Gilliam, Chad Coleman and Lawrence Gilliard Jr - no wonder those three were wanted for TWD. Ripley dark sister
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Post by dark sister on May 30, 2017 13:42:09 GMT -5
Omar is a wonderful character. S3 was my favorite. Stringer's death scene was amazing television. My favorite side character is hands down Wee Bay though. Him and his fish.
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Rosie
Daryl's Jasper Stone
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Posts: 1,440
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Post by Rosie on May 30, 2017 15:42:59 GMT -5
Yes, Stringer Bell's death was unforgettable. The way it was filmed - almost like a Western shoot out. Right now my favorite side character is Randy but that could change as I finish the series. Laughed out loud when he told the seasoned dice player character he learned the game from Edward Tighleman Middle School. My least favorite is Herc (even more than Ziggy) - dumbass just keeps on getting dumber. At this point in Season 4, he's jeopardizing both Randy and Bubbles. Props to Ellis Carver's progression into a "good police". Edited to add: Please don't worry about spoiling anything. I've read ahead on Alan's blog. I'm a spoiler junkie so there ya go.
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Rosie
Daryl's Jasper Stone
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Posts: 1,440
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Post by Rosie on May 31, 2017 8:58:51 GMT -5
Well, I finished Season 4.
Cried my way through the last two episodes. Poor Bubs - he finally hit that rock bottom place didn't he?
Dukie - Michael - Randy - testament to the writers, director and actors for making me care so much for these fictional little boys.
Please tell me Ellis is going to get Randy out of that hellhole?
Season 5 coming up ...
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Post by dark sister on May 31, 2017 20:39:09 GMT -5
S5 really bothered me lol. I have so many issues.
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Post by Ripley on Jun 1, 2017 13:24:34 GMT -5
Season 5 was the weakest season IMO although I understand the media angle also allowed us to continue Carcetti's story in detail. The kids in season 4 broke my heart every last one of them from Kenard to Dukie and especially Michael and Randy. It is my favorite season for many reasons although I also loved season 3. Waylon, played by musician and sometimes actor Steve Earle, also sang the season 5 version of the theme song, although I personally felt it would be better swapped in as the season 2 theme song better fitting the Patapsco port stevedores. Minor nitpick. Earle also appears in Simon's Treme, along with Clarke Peters (Lester) , Wendell Pierce (Bunk) and other David Simon favorites. Also some of the same showrunners and major crew members, writers. Treme is very similar, with just 36 episodes, but you will see familiar themes, along with the always lovely Danai Gurira btw Rosie. Treme has gotten tremedous positive responses and actually won Peabody award nominations and actualt wins for Steve Earle, the ensemble cast etc. Omar, Prop Joe, Bubbles, Waylon, Nick, Kima, Carver, Bunk, Chris Partlow, Cutty and Lester are my favorites. Norm, Clay Davis, Rhonda, Jay and the real Jay Landsman, who played Colvin's # 2 in season 2 and # 1 in Season's 4-5 is superb. I also loved the demoted detective who drove the van in seasons 3-5 on the patrol beat. Hauk, Levy, Marlo, Snoop, Frank, Ziggy, I just didn;t care enough about either way. I did love seeing Nick again in season 5 ith Horseface and Ott. My preference could have been for a medical season- starting in season 1 and building to a season focus itself. Johns Hopkins as a globally renowned trauma center and teaching hospital, Medicaid, the hemorrhaging of medical care cost dollars to an underserved population for physical and mental health issues for instance. They alluded to these issues, a very few times, with the Hamsterdam (I still love that name and Colvin's choices there) with the condom needle exchanges, getting rehab folks out there, providing works etc. The mental health issues of the kids, the adults, the addicts and more. Like the beautiful little boy in Namond's class who melted down the day after his mother died but was forced to go to school where he told Colvin and the teacher. Dukie and Michael in season 5 when it is said "you've never been to a dentist in your life". The children sexually abused for instance or whose parents are massacred. We saw a little of how that played out in season 5 for instance, as Kima observed it and it spurred her to reconnect with Elijah herself. I love that Goodnight Moon scene they have with the "goodnight po-pos, goodnight hoppers" I would have loved seeing Shardene as a nurse or nursing student working in a hospital seeings ome of the characters comes in for treatment on various units. Or seeing the medical staff become the equals of the police as floods of folks with no health care or Medicaid flooded ERs for primary health care and trauma needs. How the little kids likely never got vaccinated if their parents were homeless, addicts or even the working poor with no time off to get to overworked clinics wich might or might now be reasonably close on bus lines or down in the areas most needed for instance. Hamsterdam was developing perfectly in that aspect thanks to the academics who set up shop there IMO> Or even, just the malnutrition, obesity, diabetes and other medical conditions created from the limited choices, money and food deserts for instance. Sure, Proposition Joe (one of my favorite characters) wasn't worried about heart disease, COPD, strokes etc., but The Wire showed up how even the infrastructure of life amongst the urban poor and working people no longer exists. Seeing Baltimore's medical issues of the underserved and in need would have nicely wrapped up the show even if instead of a medically-focused season, the show had gone 6 years with bits and vignettes of these medical issues inserted into the existing framework. We saw how Johnny was in rehab or rehabbing for his issues after his beating, but how was he able to stay there for so long without being kicked out. Did he, Waylon and others with HIV-AIDS get treatment, medications etc or were they just without. Yes, you can see I have thought quite a lot about it.
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Rosie
Daryl's Jasper Stone
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Posts: 1,440
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Post by Rosie on Jun 1, 2017 15:11:56 GMT -5
Ripley - great points. From my AS blog reading, I get that there were doubts as to whether or not there was even going to be a Season 5. The order was cut to only 10 episodes so some scrambling had to be done to make everything 'fit'. The kids in Season 4 - heart was broken. Fictional characters representative of 1,000's of kids in big cities - even today. I liked the idea of using the same theme song with different artists each Season. I plan to watch Treme
Another season focusing on medical would have wonderful. I wonder if that was considered? I don't even know what happened to Shardene at this point. I assume she is with Lester? The medical was touched on a few times - most recently with Cutty's GSW to the leg. The CNA criticizing Cutty w/o knowing the facts. "Omar, Prop Joe, Bubbles, Waylon, Nick, Kima, Carver, Bunk, Chris Partlow, Cutty and Lester are my favorites. Norm, Clay Davis, Rhonda, Jay and the real Jay Landsman, who played Colvin's # 2 in season 2 and # 1 in Season's 4-5 is superb. I also loved the demoted detective who drove the van in seasons 3-5 on the patrol beat."
Along with the kids, pretty much my favorites are aligned with yours. Bunny, Cedric and the Deacon (whose life Avon Barksdale was based on) is also a favorite. Funny when I began the series, I thought Jimmy was going to one of my favorites. I really began to see him for his obsessed narcissistic character traits. Dominic West killed his role. Bodie and Poot and the guilt over what they were forced to do with killing their friend Wallace was tough for me. I read an interview about the actor who plays Omar 'discovering' Felicia Pearson who plays Snoop. She was into that whole drug culture herself and in fact served time as a juvenile for murder. She and the real Jay Landsman and Mrs. Donnelly (administrator of ETMS) are the true and authentic Baltimore citizens. Even though it was hard to like the character, the real Felicia Pearson did a great job with her role. No classical acting skills at all. I am flabbergasted that no actor won an Emmy in this series.
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Rosie
Daryl's Jasper Stone
Goddess
Posts: 1,440
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Post by Rosie on Jun 1, 2017 15:23:05 GMT -5
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Post by Ripley on Jun 1, 2017 21:27:14 GMT -5
Rosie, you will see Shardene again in season 5 the finale and maybe the episode before that. I too am shocked that no Emmy awards went to the cast. I love Dominic West in many things (BBC's The Hour was terrific, but he nailed the problematic Jimmy McNulty well. Beadie is a better more patient woman than I am. The medical issues would have fascinated me and I am sorry they substituted a weaker IMO storyline around the media without giving equal time to television.
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Rosie
Daryl's Jasper Stone
Goddess
Posts: 1,440
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Post by Rosie on Jun 6, 2017 19:08:42 GMT -5
I finished the last three episodes of Season 5 last night. Bittersweet.
I'm going to re-watch the finale again "30" tonight.
Bubbles! What a redemption for that character.
Templeton - "Shameful shit" the lying cheat won the Pulitzer when it rightfully should have been bestowed on the reporter who wrote the piece about Bubbles.
Michael - Dukie - so sad. Will either one of them be a "Cutty" one day?
Jimmy bring Larry back made me cry.
Namond and the Colvins at the debate - never would have predicted such a happy time for that child.
Carcetti - I have no words and could Jen possibly be that naive?
Is it wrong that within all the violence in the finale, the worst for me were the boys torturing the cat and Kenard staying to finish the cat off?
Simon foreshadowed Omar's death by Kenard's hand several times.
Do any of you think Marlo was really going to leave the streets? I dunno - he was back on that corner at the end.
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Post by dark sister on Jun 6, 2017 19:23:32 GMT -5
Marlo won't leave. I was actually disappointed no one killed him.
The boys' fates were not what I expected and Dukie made me so sad.
Of all the deaths on The Wire, the one that hit me the hardest strangely was Bodie. I knew going in how Omar died, but Bodie's just made me sad.
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Post by Ripley on Jun 6, 2017 22:09:28 GMT -5
Marlo won't leave. I was actually disappointed no one killed him. The boys' fates were not what I expected and Dukie made me so sad. Of all the deaths on The Wire, the one that hit me the hardest strangely was Bodie. I knew going in how Omar died, but Bodie's just made me sad. Bodie's death was tragic because he was a good soldier, street smart, doing his best to survive around all of the changes over which he had no control. From loyal Barksdale soldier to Stansfield organization dealer, he had no real future, and knew it. I loved the scene where he and McNulty sat in the park and talked about how both were foot soldiers and sadly, that is exactly what got Bodie killed. I was devastated by his death because he was dealt a bad hand by fate and there was no rescue, no third or fourth chances for him and ultimately no future.
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Post by Ripley on Jun 6, 2017 22:11:29 GMT -5
I finished the last three episodes of Season 5 last night. Bittersweet. I'm going to re-watch the finale again "30" tonight. Bubbles! What a redemption for that character. Templeton - "Shameful shit" the lying cheat won the Pulitzer when it rightfully should have been bestowed on the reporter who wrote the piece about Bubbles. Michael - Dukie - so sad. Will either one of them be a "Cutty" one day? Jimmy bring Larry back made me cry. Namond and the Colvins at the debate - never would have predicted such a happy time for that child. Carcetti - I have no words and could Jen possibly be that naive? Is it wrong that within all the violence in the finale, the worst for me were the boys torturing the cat and Kenard staying to finish the cat off? Simon foreshadowed Omar's death by Kenard's hand several times. Do any of you think Marlo was really going to leave the streets? I dunno - he was back on that corner at the end. The parallels between Bubbles/Dukie and Omar/Chris/Michael/Kenard were so heartbreaking in the heaviness of inevitability. I was glad Cutty survived the season and at least Lester got to be happy with Shardene, making expensive reproduction dollhouse furniture.
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Rosie
Daryl's Jasper Stone
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Posts: 1,440
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Post by Rosie on Jun 6, 2017 22:36:05 GMT -5
Jimmy "owned" his arrogant decision to create a fake serial killer. His last words in the series to Larry - "Let's go home" were significant in that I believe he was going home to Beadie.
I gained much respect for the character when he confronted Templeton about both of their lies and when he told Rawls he was not going to pin all of the fake murders on the homeless dude who acted as the 'copycat killer'.
I too had a hard time with Bodie's death. At first I was really angry that he participated in killing Wallace but as the series moved on, I began to understand that it wasn't something he chose to do and the guilt was going to gut him for the rest of his life.
David Simon did a great job with paralleling the police department, the elected politicians the newspaper and the drug commerce - the good, the bad and ugly of all it.
It was very helpful to read Sepinwall's blog after I watched each episode.
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Post by Ripley on Jun 7, 2017 6:31:19 GMT -5
Rosie I, too, enjoyed Sepinwall's blog, which I read as I first began watching the show via cable On Demand function years after it aired. Jimmy finally grew up in season 5 after realizing how far he had crossed the line although some good came out of it with many cases finally solved like the vacant house murders. He and Lester paid a price although I loathed seeing Templeton rise to success and a Pulitzer win through his lies. Watching the show again recently made the political games & grandstanding of Clay Davis, Carcetti and others like the Governor fell topical. Same with the media coverage and how some topics & events were used to further certain agendas. If I hear "Dickensian" again within a year, it may be too soon. The writing was incredible and I cannot find a season I felt was lesser although a few episodes were just very good IMO. That;s a rare gift for a TV show since even Sopranos and Mad Men, generally hailed as "great shows" had seasons or half seasons which were lesser in quality IMO. I look forward to the coming show you mentioned and I will watch it for sure.
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Rosie
Daryl's Jasper Stone
Goddess
Posts: 1,440
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Post by Rosie on Jun 20, 2017 17:20:16 GMT -5
I bought David Simon's book Homicide - A Year on the Killing Streets.
Also the David Simon/Ed Burns collaboration The Corner - A Year in the Life of an Inner City Neighborhood. Yeah - I guess I'm obsessed.
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